The Calgary Hitmen Pavlo Padakin celebrates his first period goal to start the onslaught of thousands of teddy bears during the 18th annual Petro-Canada Teddy Bear Toss at the Scotiabank Saddledome where the Hitmen hosted the Kootenay Ice on Sunday Dec 2, 2012. Darren Makowichuk/Calgary Sun/QMI AGENCY

Darren Makowichuk/Calgary Sun/QMI Agency

The Calgary Hitmen take cover from thousands of teddy bears during the 18th annual Petro-Canada Teddy Bear Toss at the Scotiabank Saddledome where the Hitmen hosted the Kootenay Ice on Sunday Dec 2, 2012. Darren Makowichuk/Calgary Sun/QMI AGENCY

The Calgary Hitmen were busy picking up thousands of teddy bears during the 18th annual Petro-Canada Teddy Bear Toss at the Scotiabank Saddledome where the Hitmen hosted the Kootenay Ice on Sunday Dec 2, 2012. Darren Makowichuk/Calgary Sun/QMI AGENCY

Darren Makowichuk/Calgary Sun/QMI Agency

The Calgary Hitmen ham it up with thousands of teddy bears during the 18th annual Petro-Canada Teddy Bear Toss at the Scotiabank Saddledome where the Hitmen hosted the Kootenay Ice on Sunday Dec 2, 2012. Darren Makowichuk/Calgary Sun/QMI AGENCY

Darren Makowichuk/Calgary Sun/QMI Agency

The Calgary Hitmen ham it up with thousands of teddy bears during the 18th annual Petro-Canada Teddy Bear Toss at the Scotiabank Saddledome where the Hitmen hosted the Kootenay Ice on Sunday Dec 2, 2012. Darren Makowichuk/Calgary Sun/QMI AGENCY

Darren Makowichuk/Calgary Sun/QMI Agency

The Calgary Hitmen ham it up with thousands of teddy bears during the 18th annual Petro-Canada Teddy Bear Toss at the Scotiabank Saddledome where the Hitmen hosted the Kootenay Ice on Sunday Dec 2, 2012. Darren Makowichuk/Calgary Sun/QMI AGENCY

Darren Makowichuk/Calgary Sun/QMI Agency

The Calgary Hitmen take cover from thousands of teddy bears during the 18th annual Petro-Canada Teddy Bear Toss at the Scotiabank Saddledome where the Hitmen hosted the Kootenay Ice on Sunday Dec 2, 2012. Darren Makowichuk/Calgary Sun/QMI AGENCY

“I saw this on Youtube when the Calgary Hitmen drafted me this year,” said Padakin, who brought down the bears with a first-period goal Sunday afternoon.

“I think it’s just a couple of bears. But no. When they start to fall down, I said, ‘Oh my God. What do I need to do?’ I can’t skate to the bench because all ice was in bears.”

Padakin’s seventh goal of the season touched off an avalanche of 21,453 stuffed animals at the 18th annual Petro-Canada Teddy Bear Toss and set the stage for a 4-1 win over the Kootenay Ice at the Saddledome.

Padakin said all of his teammates were betting on themselves to score the big goal.

“Before the game, all the guys talk about who’s going to score the goal,” the 18-year-old said. “Everybody wants to score this goal. I was thinking, ‘Oh yeah, I will score.’ But

I didn’t believe it.

“They can’t believe a Ukrainian guy who plays first year in Dub scored this goal.”

Padakin became the first European to score the Teddy Bear goal since Pavel Brendl in 1999.

The 6-foot-1, 192-pounder said his family got up in the middle of the night back in the Ukraine to watch the game.

“I think they saw this goal because I told them it was a nice game with a lot of fans,” Padakin said.

“I checked my messages and they texted me ‘nice job, Pav.’

Greg Chase scored a pair of near-identical powerplay goals, and Alex Roach chipped in with a goal and an assist from the back end as the Hitmen (18-6-3) bounced back from a horrible 4-0 loss to the Saskatoon Blades on home ice two nights earlier.

Brock Montgomery provided the lone blemish on Hitmen goaltender Chris Driedger’s night, as the Ice fell to 8-17-1, the worst record in the WHL’s Eastern Conference.

Brooks Macek, who had a pair of helpers, sent a perfect cross-crease pass to Padakin for the all-important first goal.

The Hitmen grabbed a 2-0 lead when the puck pinballed around the crease and landed on the stick of Roach, who scored his seventh of the season.

Montgomery, a noted Hitmen killer, who had a natural hat-trick in his last trip to the Dome, put the visitors on the board late in the middle stanza.

Sam Reinhart’s wrister clanked off the post, hit Montgomery’s shin pad and bounced into the net.

Chase said his teammates were able to get their heads back on the task at hand once the ice was cleaned up.

“Obviously, it’s a cool atmosphere to play in,” Chase said. “Everyone wants to score that goal. But after we scored, we re-focused. There’s a long period to wait because we have to pick up all the bears.

“We talked amongst ourselves, and then Mike (Williamson, head coach) came in and said to play like it’s a new game.”